The image comes from behind-the-scenes footage shot during the premiere of The Circus at Mann’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood. Clarke noticed that a woman – or what may be a man dressed as a woman – crosses the shot with her left hand held to the side of her head. As she turns toward the camera, there appears to be a small, square, thin, black object in her hand. She’s clearly talking.

Clarke thinks the simplest explanation is that you’re looking at a time traveler talking on a cell phone.

See for yourself. Clarke begins showing the footage at about 2:37 into this YouTube video.

Of course, there were no cell phones in 1928. And even if this was a time traveler, there would be no cell towers to handle the call. The original AT&T, however, did exist in 1928, so if this is someone using a mobile phone, you know the network connection was almost certainly lousy . . .

Then again, any civilization advanced enough to travel through time doesn’t need a cell tower, since the iPhone XXXIV will have a new feature: A personal wormhole.

I found this item on film critic Roger Ebert’s blog. Clarke says in the video that no one’s been able to give him a good, non-science-fiction explanation of what the woman is really doing. He should read the comments under the Ebert entry – there are plenty of suggestions:

Electronic hearing aids were invented long before 1928, but were still hand-held devices at the time. The woman’s is shaking it in frustration, I don’t think it’s a time traveler even though that would be way cool.

I don’t see anything that this gentleman sees in this clip. Mostly, he’s presuming an awful lot, and seems rather foolish because of it.

A much more likely explanation for the woman’s behavior is that she’s shielding her eyes or face from the sun (check out the shadows) while also holding something in her hand. She could be holding anything, such as a case for glasses or cigarettes. It is presumptive to suggest either, but much more realistic than a time traveler in drag (talking on a “device” that would not work due to the lack of a supportive infrastructure).

Looks to me more like the person is clutching a collar against the wind, and what looks like a phone when the person turns his/her head is a trick of the light, a shadow coming off the hands against the face. I think that’s a more likely explanation than a time traveler using a communications device of some kind. The talking could just be the kind of filling in you ask extras to provide–a person muttering to him/herself while walking down the street.